THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Come April, Shankhumugham beach, the favourite evening haunt of residents in the capital, will don a cleaner look. The Thiruvananthapuram District Promotion Council (DTPC) has put in place a permanent waste management system for the beach destination.
The DTPC has inked an agreement with a private agency which will be entrusted with the entire task of waste management. This would put an end to the practice of burning the deadly cocktail of plastic and organic waste near the beach. Since October last year, the DTPC had begun efforts for segregation and proper disposal of waste.
The new model
The agency entrusted with the task of waste management will set up separate bins for organic and plastic waste near eateries and areas in the beach frequented by visitors. Awareness will be created among the vendors on the need to maintain hygeine and segregate the waste at source. The vendors will also be asked to advise the visitors to dispose waste in the proper bins.
After peak hours everyday, the waste would be collected and kept in the Resource Recovery Centre nearby. Early next morning, the waste would be moved to treatment units. The onus of periodically moving the waste from RRC to the treatment units would rest with the agency.
“Once the permanent waste management system is in place, the beach would look a lot more cleaner. We plan to roll out the new model from April 1,” DTPC Secretary Prasanth T V said.
At present, the cleaning is done by a team of 21 Kudumbashree workers who are on duty from 8 am to 2 pm. The waste that gets accumulated from early evening hours used to remain in the beach till next morning. With the new system in place, the beach would remain clean during busy hours.
The agency will also be entrusted with the implementation of Green Protocol at the beach. Awareness will be provided to vendors to avoid plastic paper plates and cups.